CELEBRATE

I have been in church ministry for almost 40 years.  I love the church because it is God’s chosen vehicle to accomplish His mission on earth and all those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ are a part of it.  Jesus gave the church high value when he said in Matt 18:16, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”  The church was born at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came in power.  It was through the Spirit empowered messages of Peter and the apostles that thousands of people came to faith in Jesus Christ and began to band together as the Body of Christ, one of the great metaphors for the church.

Right from the start the church gathered.  They built community, grew strong in faith through teaching, prayed together, and saw the good news proclaimed to the saving of both Jew and Gentile.

The church has leaders, gifted and called by God, to move the church forward in the effectiveness of its mission.   One of those leaders is called pastor/teacher as indicated in Ephesians 4.  CCC has had two pastor/teachers in the last 37 years, but now the time has come to embrace a third.  This past weekend Dwight Ford accepted the unanimous call of the church Board to be our next pastor.  This is an exciting culmination to over a year’s worth of prayer and diligence on the part of the Search Committee and the Governing Board.

So this is a celebrative time because God has led us here.  We have so clearly seen His hand on the entire process.

I know change in leadership can be a little scary.  The known for the unsure.  But I encourage you to have confidence in your church leadership who have prayed diligently, even as we have, for the Lord to lead us to HIS man, knowing that they would not settle on anything less. 

Dwight and his family should be relocating to Centerville around July 1^st.  He will assume the senior pastor leadership role in mid-July.  I encourage you to embrace him as God’s man for CCC and be ready to move together in the accomplishment of the mission and vision God has given His church at CCC.